Schönberg: Gurre-Lieder

Introduction

Gurre-Lieder is a large cantata for five vocal soloists, narrator, chorus and large orchestra, composed by Arnold Schönberg, on poems by the Danish novelist Jens Peter Jacobsen (translated from Danish to German by Robert Franz Arnold). The title means "songs of Gurre", referring to Gurre Castle in Denmark, scene of the medieval love-tragedy (related in Jacobsen's poems) revolving around the Danish national legend of the love of the Danish king Valdemar Atterdag (Valdemar IV, 1320–1375, spelt Waldemar by Schönberg) for his mistress Tove, and her subsequent murder by Valdemar's jealous Queen Helvig (a legend which is historically more likely connected with his ancestor Valdemar I).

Composition

In 1900, Schönberg began composing the work as a song cycle for soprano, tenor and piano for a competition run by the Wiener Tonkünstler-Verein (Vienna Composers' Association). It was written in a lush, late-romantic style heavily influenced by Richard Wagner. According to Schönberg, however, he "finished them half a week too late for the contest, and this decided the fate of the work." Later that year, he radically expanded his original conception, composing links between the first nine songs as well as adding a prelude, the Wood Dove's Song, and the whole of Parts Two and Three. He worked on this version sporadically until around 1903, when he abandoned the mammoth task of orchestrating the work and moved on to other projects.

By the time he returned to the piece in 1910, he had already written his first acknowledged atonal works, such as the Three Pieces for Piano, Op. 11, Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16 and Erwartung, Op. 17. He had also come under the spell of Gustav Mahler, whom he had met in 1903 and whose influence may be discernible in the orchestration of the latter parts of the Gurre-Lieder. Whereas Parts One and Two are clearly Wagnerian in conception and execution, Part Three features the pared-down orchestral textures and kaleidoscopic shifts between small groups of instruments favoured by Mahler in his later symphonies. In Des Sommerwindes wilde Jagd, Schönberg also introduced the first use of Sprechgesang (or Sprechstimme), a technique he would explore more fully in Pierrot Lunaire of 1912. The orchestration was finally completed in November 1911.

Structure

The cantata is divided into three parts. Whereas the first two parts are scored for solo voices and orchestra only, the third part introduces a further two soloists, a narrator, three four-part male choruses as well as a full mixed chorus.

In the first part of the work, the love of Waldemar for Tove and the theme of misfortune and impending death are recounted in nine songs for soprano and tenor with orchestral accompaniment. A long orchestral interlude leads to the Wood Dove's Song which tells of Tove's death and Waldemar's grief.

The brief second part consists of just one song in which the bereft and distraught Waldemar accuses God of cruelty.

In the third part, Waldemar calls his dead vassals from their graves. The undead's restless roaming and savage hunt around the castle at night is thunderously depicted by the male chorus, until the horde, driven by the radiance of the sunrise, recedes back into death's sleep. During this, a peasant sings of his fear of the eerie army and there is a humorous interlude in the grotesque song of the fool Klaus who is forced to ride with the macabre host when he would rather rest in his grave. A gentle orchestral interlude depicting the light of dawn leads into the melodrama The Summer Wind's Wild Hunt, a narration about the morning wind, which flows into the mixed-choral conclusion Seht die Sonne! ("See the Sun!").

Part one

1. Orchestral Prelude
2. Nun dämpft die Dämm'rung (tenor = Waldemar)
3. O, wenn des Mondes Strahlen (soprano = Tove)
4. Ross! Mein Ross! (Waldemar)
5. Sterne jubeln (Tove)
6. So tanzen die Engel vor Gottes Thron nicht (Waldemar)
7. Nun sag ich dir zum ersten Mal (Tove)
8. Es ist Mitternachtszeit (Waldemar)
9. Du sendest mir einen Liebesblick (Tove)
10. Du wunderliche Tove! (Waldemar)
11. Orchestral Interlude
12. Tauben von Gurre! (mezzo-soprano = Wood Dove)

Part two

Herrgott, weißt du, was du tatest (Waldemar)

Part three

1. Erwacht, König Waldemars Mannen wert! (Waldemar)
2. Deckel des Sarges klappert (bass-baritone = Peasant, men's chorus)
3. Gegrüsst, o König (men's chorus = Waldemar's men)
4. Mit Toves Stimme flüstert der Wald (Waldemar)
5. Ein seltsamer Vogel ist so'n Aal (Klaus the Jester)
6. Du strenger Richter droben (Waldemar)
7. Der Hahn erhebt den Kopf zur Kraht (men's chorus)

Des Sommerwindes wilde Jagd / The Summer Wind's Wild Hunt

8. Orchestral Prelude
9. Herr Gänsefuss, Frau Gänsekraut (speaker)
10. Seht die Sonne! (mixed chorus)